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Economic conditions changed dramatically due to problems encountered by the mortgage sector and global rising of fuel and food.

All of us are very cautious and are always on the look out for means to survive, here are some of them:

• Don’t Panic. How the stock markets behave defies laws of gravity. It goes up an hour and drops drastically in another. Experts advise though that withdrawing your investment money may do more harm than good. Cash out the money if you really need it short-term. Be reminded that through out history bad times come and go. After some time, the market will recover.

• Protect your Portfolio. When you put some eggs in the basket you make sure that they will not break. This is also the rule of thumb for investments. For example, financial experts advise that you check on your portfolios once a year and check how much the balances are. Make some adjustments so your assets are well distributed to different channels. The market volatility is an indicator that people should be diversified with their investments. Factors such as your age and risk tolerance should influence you long term. Remember that the current state of the economy is just temporary. Younger people can take more risks in terms of investing while the older generation must take lower investment risk to ensure better cash flow.

• Do not be Trapped by your Mortgage. The subprime mortgage disaster has affected the whole economy. Homeowners with adjustable rate mortgages should consider getting a long term fixed loan to avoid the voracious rate adjustments that may occur. Getting a refinancing is not that easy today. Lenders have taken measures to safeguard themselves and assets through higher interest rates and stricter qualification guidelines. If you have a good credit score take the opportunity to discuss with your lender better fixed rate loan packages that can be easier on your pocket and in the long term lead to owning that home.

• Pay Attention to your Job. Work hard during these hard times. Companies are on a wait and see situation where they have the tendency to lay off people when it becomes a necessity. Work hard so you will be a valuable asset of the company. Companies will see you as a good investment and will give you job security. If you are on a staff level, monitor how your boss and your department is performing. Knowing where you stand allow you to plan for the future.

• Handle your debt and save. It is essential to get rid of bills and save as much money as you can. In times of great need, you cannot easily rely on the value of your home which has dropped significantly because the economy is on shaky grounds. Determine if you really need something before spending that extra cash.

• Don’t spend on what you don’t need. Tough times should convince you to review your household budget. List down your expenses and strike out any thing which you think is not really essential. Necessity should be considered first before giving into the comforts of your lifestyle. Tighten the budget and put the extra money into your savings.

Blooming in very tough economic conditions involve making the right decisions at the right time. Spending less may mean survival until the economy recovers. For now, being ready for the worst is number one.

The author of this article was Benedict Yossarian. If you have taken a loan out in the UK within the past 10 years it is quite possible it could be classed as an unenforceable loan agreement if any clerical errors have been made. Consumer Credit Claims can help receive financial compensation for these incorrectly drafted loans.

This article discusses the how to to profit from commodity pyramid trading.

These key points will help you learn this technique:

1. What is Commodity Pyramid Trading?
2. Commodity Pillar Trading Comparison
3. Commodity Pyramid Trading Comparison
4. Commodity Pyramid Trading Useful Tips

1. What is Commodity Pyramid Trading?

This is a method of trading commodity futures contracts in such a way that when the profit from a single trade equals the current margin for the commodity, the profit is used to self-finance an additional futures contract. This self-financing process can take either of two methods: Pillar trading or Pyramid trading.

The Pillar trading method involves adding one futures contract to your position during each self-finance round, while Pyramid trading adds one futures contract – but from each active futures contract with each self-financing step. This results in a doubling of your position during each self-financing step.

Both pyramid trades and pillar trades (hereinafter referred to as pyramid trades) should exhibit several characteristics which make them high profit potential candidates. These characteristics include:

• The market is quiet and has exhibited low volatility for several months.
• The margin for the commodity is relatively low.
• The market is set up for a major move. This is evidenced by extreme commercial/public signal, as well as a 12-month high or 12-month low on the daily price chart with a likely 1-2-3 Top or Bottom price chart pattern in the process of unfolding.

A VERY IMPORTANT NOTE: The biggest danger in any futures trade is a limit move which goes against your position. With a single futures contract, this is risky enough. With multiple futures contracts, this risk is seriously compounded. However, if you monitor the market conditions (both technical and fundamental market conditions) and the financial news on a daily basis, you will generally receive a timely warning of an impending limit move which may go against your position – giving you time to close out your position before that occurs.

The Pyramid Trading Form

The Pyramid Trading Form is at the heart of helping you to successfully implement and manage these trading strategies. It contains areas that will let you monitor and track up to three commodities using this trading strategy. Each area allows for up to 7 futures contracts to be held in the pillar trade position, and up to 64 futures contracts in the pyramid trade position.

How To Identify A Good Pyramid Trade Candidate

At any point in time, there will be several commodities with differing degrees of profit potential. However, it is important that you identify the commodity which has the best chance of being a profitable pyramid trade. This means that you must perform a current analysis of all commodities to identify the commodity that meets the following requirements.

a. You must first use the Commercial/Public selection tools to identify the commodities that appear to be ready to make a major move.

b. Of these commodities, identify those that appear to be making either a 1-2-3 Top or 1-2-3 Bottom in the daily price chart. Calculate the daily 50% retracement target for each one. Also calculate the dollar amount the move represents.

c. Where applicable, use the weekly chart to calculate the weekly 50% retracement target for each commodity. Again, calculate the dollar amount the move represents if the weekly target is attained.

d. Identify the margin requirement for each commodity. The ideal pyramid trade will be one with a relatively small margin requirement and with a dollar amount profit potential that is at least three times the margin requirement for the commodity.

e. The commodity that you select must be a quiet commodity – that is, one which does not have wild price swings.

f. The commodity you ultimately select as the best pyramid trade candidate must also have enough time to allow the move to unfold. This means you need to get into a more distant month to minimize loss from commission switch requirements (which can be expensive with 16 or more contracts in your position). Select the more distant commodity contract month that has 120-180 days available until the Last Trading Day (LTD).

g. The commodity which you have selected must have a daily volume of at least 10,000 contracts for adequate liquidity. Open interest should also be 10,000 or more.

It’s important to remember that once you are in a trade, you must religiously perform an analysis on a daily basis so as to identify any changes in the original analysis that may adversely impact your trade. In addition, you should always monitor fundamental “news” which will affect the price of the commodity. For example, if you’re short Orange Juice – and Florida has a freeze warning – close your position fast!

2. Commodity Pillar Trading Comparison

The commodity pillar trading strategy is the least risky of the two strategies because you only acquire one contract with each applicable price (profit) increase.

An example pillar trade resulted in $12,650 profit (before commissions). During the trade, your total risk was confined to $400 or less. If you had traded only one futures contract (with a 93.79 entry price, and a 94.92 exit price), your gross profit would have been $2,825. The pillar trading strategy produced the additional profit.

3. Commodity Pyramid Trading Comparison

The commodity pyramid trading strategy is the most risky of the two strategies because you acquire two contracts with each applicable price (profit) increase. This results in a risky “inverted pyramid” position which, if not intelligently managed can produce significant losses.

An example Pyramid Trade resulted in $72,200 profit (before commissions). During the trade your total risk was confined to $4,600 or less. Again, if you had traded only one futures contract, your gross profit would have been $2,825. The pyramid trading strategy produced the additional profit.

4. Commodity Pyramid Trading Useful Tips

There are several things which you must do when using the commodity pyramid trading technique described in this course. Failure to do so will likely invite grief into your life.

* You must perform an analysis of the markets to identify an ideal pyramid trading opportunity. Having done that, you need patience and commitment to wait for the inevitable move in price. Your previous efforts at paper trading have given you the confidence and skills to identify major moves. Trust your skills.

* Get into the more distant futures contract to avoid the need to “switch” contracts. The commission on 64 contracts at $40 per contract will cost you an extra $2,560 in commissions each time you switch.

* You must monitor your position daily. This involves being aware of what the analysis “tools” (described in my complete Commodity FUTURES Trading Course) are telling you about the current state of the market.

* Be aware of any “news” items which would have an impact (positive or negative) on the commodity you are trading. For example, if you are short in Orange Juice, a “freeze” warning in Florida will cause price to move against you, and can likely result in a limit move – a catastrophe you should immediately take steps to avoid!

* A price move generally results in a series of minor retracements; leaving a support point during an increase in price, and a resistance point during a decrease in price. It is a sensible strategy to place the stop-loss a little below the support point for the uptrend and above the resistance point for the downtrend.

* Timing of the order entry is critical. You need to predefine what your entry strategy will be during each phase of pyramid trading.

Closing Advice

You must do your homework and try different strategies using various price charts. By covering the price chart with a sheet of paper so you can’t see price action beyond the entry point, you can slowly move the sheet of paper rightward exposing subsequent price action. This technique lets you retroactively “simulate” various strategies and react to market changes. Of course, you should also be entering the applicable data into your Pyramid Trading Form to track your “simulated” trade. This will give you skills and confidence to use this pyramid trading technique.

Special Note: There is substantial risk in trading commodity futures and options.

(C) 2008 Thomas Wnorowski

Thomas Wnorowski’s flagship site Learn Futures contains contains 15 years of insight and techniques. His Commodity Futures Trading Course and Bullseye Commodity Trader Newsletter are tools you can use to educate yourself on Commodities and Options Trading.

When I recently saw the President of the Pay Day Lender’s Association on TV the other day lecturing the viewing audience to “Never borrow more than you can repay in a short period,” I got sick to my stomach. I knew he was smelling blood!

He was clearly reacting to the increased desperation of the middle class American worker, falling further behind because of stagnant wages, rapidly rising mortage, gasoline and health care costs.

If you don’t take action to protect yourself and your family, now; from this increasingly predatory economy we live in; you will go right into bankruptcy, foreclosure or both, along with millions of your fellow middle class Americans.

Most of you are letting the government take 30-50% of your hard earned income in taxes every day, while tax the corporations and the wealthy ever more unconscionable and unfair taxbreaks.

Exxon/Mobile makes $9 Billion in profits in 1 quarter and ½ million middle class families will go bankrupt this taxes because they do not have $300/mo more income, which according to a Harvard researcher, Elizabeth Warren, is all that is needed for them to avoid bankruptcy!

There is no way the average person’s wages are going to keep pace with the spiraling cost of living, so the head of the Pay Day Lender’s Association wants to lend a helping hand, at 240% annual taxes of course.

Fortunately, there is another way. You can take back 10-25% of your hard earned pay check that you routinely let the government confiscate.

You can start a home based business and take advantage of the same tax system the corporations and the wealthy use.

You didn’t know there were two tax systems in this country?

Their tax system allows them to pay little to no income taxes, averaging around only 4-5%. You know too well what your tax system takes from you.

How would you like to be able to slash your income taxes and increase your take home pay by 10-25%, every pay day, starting now?

You must have or start a home based business. It must be run with the intent of making a profit, worked at least 20 hours per week and you must not co-mingle personal and business funds.

Once you have a home based business, you can learn how to redirect the money you are presently spending on supporting your lifestyle into expenses necessary to run your business.

Think about a simple trip to the mall on Saturday with your family to shop for a pair of shoes for your son. Tax deductible? A business expense? Clearly not.

However, what if you were to pick up a box of blank CD’s or a new ink cartridge for your business computer? Bingo! That trip has become a business trip! You can now write off the mileage to and from the mall, irrespective of the fact that you bought your son his shoes.

Come to think of it, how would you like tomake the purchase of your son’s new shoes a business deduction too? Impossible? Nope. Instead of giving him an allowance, give him a pay check! That’s right, put him and other family members on the payroll.

The IRS says that if the job is legit, the wages suitable for the work done and an actual pay check is cut, there is no problem with hiring family. In fact, they have given the green light to having children as young as 7 years of age, employed in family businesses.

All of these new found write offs add up to huge tax deductions, which means more take home pay.

An Extra Pay Check of $500-$1,000 every month for your family can make the difference between financial survival and financial disaster.

The key is to have a qualified home based business.

Copyright, 2007, Bill Young. Bill is a Personal Financial Consultant. He shows people How to Quit the Rat Race in 5 Years! He did it himself, in real estate. However, because of the current state of the real estate market, now favors home based businesses as the springboard out of the Rat Race. Click here for more info: http://www.linkbrander.com/go/48681 Call Bill for a free, no obligation 30 min consultation on your personal financial situation and how you can overcome the problems and become financially free in 5 years! 877-291-3642

The great housing boom of the nineties and onwards was a time of endless building and big dreams, but these things cannot last and the inevitable downturn has occurred with house prices and value falling at record rates.

We all knew this day would come, as change is inevitable; but many of us have been surprised that it took this long for things to turn the other way. Today the marketplace is significantly different and affecting all major sectors of the economy, with slowing business growth, falling house prices and difficult credit conditions dramatically altering consumer spending and confidence.

Outside of the financial sector, homeowners and potential home buyers are paying most attention to the grim news circulating around Britain’s media. This is a time for information gathering and measured thinking, not rash decisions and blunt generalisations. Whatever your view on the current state of the economy and housing market, it cannot be ignored.

Britain is more vulnerable to an economic slowdown because of the high levels of debt held by many households that are well used to the widespread spending that typified the good years. Now higher interest rates have seen spending replaced with more cautious behaviour as more people become aware of the perils of these uncertain times.

The high cost of housing in the last decade has not helped as house prices have not really corresponded to income levels. People now have little to be optimistic about as house prices suffer their sharpest monthly falls since the early 1990s, down 11% compared to this time last year, 2007.

Hundreds of thousands of homeowners are looking to renegotiate or compare mortgages, only to find that their choice of available deals has decreased dramatically and average borrowing costs have risen sharply as banks struggle to cope with high lending rates and falling profits.

New buyers looking to get their foot onto the property ladder don’t fare much better when comparing mortgages. 100% mortgages are, for now anyway, a thing of the past while average two-year fixed-rate deals are less attractive than previous years and new mortgage lending has fallen to a 15-year low.

This property malaise has swept across the US and UK and is rapidly affecting other countries too as news of mortgage brokers, estate agents and house builders shedding jobs due to lack of demand is now common place in the national media.

It is understandable to wish to turn away from the somber news of negative equity, repossessions, and mortgage struggles but now is an important time to take stock, examine your spending and speak to your financial advisor. Patience and reliable information are key, it is important to acknowledge that this is a period of change, but also to remain upbeat as after the rain, there is always sunshine.

Adam Singleton writes for a digital marketing agency. This article has been commissioned by a client of said agency. This article is not designed to promote, but should be considered professional content.